“My office’s audits of school districts and BOCES help schools improve their financial management practices,” DiNapoli said. “These audits are tools for schools to make sure proper policies and procedures are in place to protect taxpayer dollars and provide students with the best possible education.”

Dryden CSD – Internal Controls Over Selected Financial Operations (Cortland, Tioga and Tompkins counties)
The audit found district officials did not adequately segregate duties for the cash receipts and payroll processes, properly assign user access rights or implement sufficient compensating controls. As a result, there was an increased risk that errors or irregularities could occur and not be detected and corrected in a timely manner.

General Brown CSD – Internal Controls Over Purchasing (Jefferson County)
Auditors found district officials either did not comply with General Municipal Law competitive bidding requirements or Office of General Services contract requirements for three contracts totaling $50,106. In addition, auditors found three purchases, totaling $17,486, either lacked documentation that quotes were obtained from more than one vendor or lacked documentation to justify why the vendor that submitted the lowest quote was not selected.

Salmon River CSD – Internal Controls Over Payroll (Franklin and St. Lawrence counties)
Auditors found the board did not establish an internal control system that adequately segregated duties or provide adequate management oversight for payroll processing and accounting for leave time accruals. As a result, five employees were overpaid by $23,533 for tutoring services and errors in the accounting for 276 days of leave time with a value of $68,300 occurred without being detected by district officials.

South Huntington UFSD - Internal Controls Over Selected Financial Operations (Suffolk County)
Auditors found that three board members who served during the 2006-07 and 2007-08 fiscal years did not complete the required six hours of training on fiscal oversight, accountability and fiduciary responsibilities within the first year of their election. In addition, district officials informed auditors that the former benefits administrator did not properly review and monitor life insurance premium
payments for the superintendent and four assistant superintendents. As a result, the district paid
$66,609 in premiums for six split-dollar life insurance policies with face values totaling $2.8 million, which exceeded the coverage amounts allowed in the administrators’ contracts by a total of $1.1 million. District officials did not always follow the board’s purchasing policies and solicit competition when required. Furthermore, the board did not require district officials to solicit competition when procuring professional services and did not always have written agreements with professionals. Lastly, although district officials developed policies and procedures to protect critical financial data, the policies did not address user access accounts and audit logs.

Click here to view the audits above. If you have any questions or would like a comment from the Comptroller’s office regarding the audits above, please call 518-474-4015.